We had a number of highlights: seeing pumas in Torres del Paine- the pumas were a bit of a distance away and had their backs to us for most of the sighting! ; the Perito Moreno glacier; the stunning scenery; the Tango show in Buenos Aires; spending time in Rio.  The whole trip ran like clockwork! Every guide was ready and waiting for us at the airport as arranged and were knowledgeable and friendly. They made every effort to enable us to have vegetarian food wherever possible.  The travel companies in each country were very diligent and called us on arrival to confirm arrangements, including copies of vouchers and any other information we needed, which was very helpful.

Overall, the whole trip was extremely well-organised and delivered from both the UK and South American sides. We thoroughly enjoyed all of the pre-booked activities and were particularly impressed with Carola, our guide in Puerto Natales, who was both knowledgeable and friendly.”

We had a great time in Quito and the Galapagos, thanks. Everything went even better than expected – we really liked the friendly hotel, and couldn’t fault anything on the Mary Anne. We also appreciated the unexpected extras – the free transfers to the airport to and from the Galapagos, and payment of the tax. I have already recommended you to a friend!

Thank you!   We had an absolutely wonderful trip, thank you so much for organizing it!  We really felt like it couldn’t have been much better — and you really did an amazing job of making that happen. The language school:  It was great.  We got to do loads of conversation and really learned a lot in the time.  Yessica is a sweetie.  She took good care of us, and was a lot of fun to talk to.  She made sure to take us to the places we needed to find — like the salsa school and the meeting with Jesus about the Inca Trail trek.  The school is very small and cosy.  The other teacher, Genara was a very good teacher — she explained lots of concepts clearly.  We learnt a huge amount in the time we were there. The home stay: Miguel and his family were really welcoming.  The room was actually a whole apartment on the top floor of their house — bedroom, bath and living room/kitchen with cool views over the city and plenty of space for the two of us.  We spoke Spanish with them almost exclusively.  Miguel is an English language teacher so could switch over to help us out if we were too confused, but also wanted to help us learn.  The food was also great — they made us all kinds of Peruvian specialities (lomo saltado, papas rellonas, chicha morada), and took us out to a couple of their favourite restaurants and on a trip they took out to the neighbouring town of Pisac.  The Inca Trail: It was incredible!  We felt good the whole trip, and were lucky not to struggle with the altitude.  We really enjoyed the hiking, the incredible scenery and the sites.  The guides were friendly, and seemed very knowledgeable about the Inca sites, and we chatted to them in Spanish when possible.  The group was – 12 – and we enjoyed meeting them too. Thanks for the warning to bring an extra thermarest to sleep on – that was great advice.  The equipment and food was otherwise all great.

The trip was fantastic. The train to Puno was a real treat. Being in the lap of luxury after the trek was a nice contrast. Lake Titicaca was majestic and very interesting. Also a great guide. Walter and a great visit to Taquile with a beautiful lunch.

Thank you again Tom. The boys and I will always remember this trip.

The boat, Eric, the crew, and the naturalist were all perfect. Thanks so much for your help. Could not have turned out better if I had planned 6 months in advance instead of 6 days.  Again Thank You!

We were very lucky to have the company of some fantastic guides on the tour. Marco, our main tour guide, was as helpful as ever. The children will also mention Willow (Colca Canyon), Maria and Ruben (Puno and Taquile), Marlene (our host in the barrio [poor neighbourhood] of Cusco), Cristian and his rafting team, ‘George of The Jungle’ at Wasai and Fabiola (our tour guide in Lima). Enthusiastic and caring people – all of them. There were others too which i haven’t mentioned. The trip would not have been such a great success without the superb organisation of Andean Trails and the personal attention of Kathy (the boss). We may have been their paying customers but their organisation, attention to detail and efficiency was fantastic. If you or any members of your family are ever planning a South American trip in the future then I don’t think you need to look any further for a quality organisation to organise your trip. Anyone who is familiar with our previous trip in 2006 will find it hard to believe that we actually crammed in more than we did then. For example, we had a great open-top-bus tour of Arequipa, saw a lot more of Lima including San Francisco and its catacombs and Lima’s Inca gold museum.  The most significant addition to the trip was the visit to the poor barrio (bar-ee-oh) arranged by Andean Trails. We left a great quantity of clothes, football kits, pencils and 80+ ‘Tiny Tots’ watches donated by the Ragdoll TV company. A few members of the St Benedict’s community also donated a bit of money which we left with Marlene. The kids had great fun playing football with them and friendships were made the following day when 16 of them joined us on the rafting trip. On the bus to the river communication was easy and fun – we sang a song in English and then they sang a song in Spanish – again and again. It was great to see the handshakes and hugs between them all as we all said goodbye. We hope to maintain our contact with Andean Trails and Marlene and their work and are planning to raise money for ‘the project’ through our Advent and Lenten charity appeals.

We loved staying on Amantani Island in Lake Titicaca with a local family. We were very lucky as the youngest daughter, a student nurse, was home for the weekend and could speak English which was a real bonus.   We learned so much about the local culture, farming methods and their lives. The floating islands were amazing as well.

After the excitement of seeing a giant anteater with baby, I thought the trip couldn’t get any better until we saw a jaguar close up on the riverbank!

The trip was very well organized – no hitches at all. The Peruvian contacts were very efficient and very accommodating. The walk (other than the weather) was very enjoyable and all the people involved really went out of their way to make it a good experience. Thanks for your help and I would recommend you.

The cruise was great – fantastic organisation, very professional staff and all very interesting. We can’t recommend the cruise highly enough but it was not full – about 90 on board out of a possible 120. We were tempted to go on to Antarctica!

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Peru. You did an excellent job in picking our tour guides and activities. The guides were all well informed and their operation was excellent.  They were prepared for us and told exactly what we needed to bring for each activity.  Their equipment was all in great shape and had our safety in mind.  They were very efficient in set up and break down.  The food was wonderful and plentiful.   I once again would go on this trip again

Our experience in Peru was absolutely WONDERFUL!!  From the places we stayed and visited to the food we ate to the people we met, it was wonderful.  It is hard to pinpoint just one highlight of the trip, but our time on the Inca Trail was certainly one of our favorites.  It was truly amazing to see the sights and be able to experience this incredible part of Peru.  We are so thankful that we upgraded our hike to the luxury trail because it allowed us to move at a slower pace than the other hikes and really enjoy our time.  Our tour guide on trail was Jose’ Silva and he was phenomenal.  His knowledge of the trail and the history as well as his love for his country was a joy…he also had a fantastic personality which made our time with him fun!  The crew of porters who cared for us were amazing and kind men who made us very comfortable throughout the journey.  We would most certainly do this again, and we would not change a thing. 
  
We also enjoyed our tour in Cusco.  The company who toured us was great–they were well organized and it was obvious they knew what they were doing. 

We would most certainly work with Andean Trails again.  We appreciate you taking the time to answer all of our questions while we were planning.  We were very prepared as we followed your packing list exactly, and we think our trip was amazing due to your knowledge of the treks. 

Than you very much!

It was indeed a great trip. I can probably speak for all of us when I say we all enjoyed the trip. The glacier school sessions were fun and useful – both guides started off with the very basics of walking in crampons and we progressed to the point of front-pointing up some ice walls on the Cayambe glacier with a top rope.  Hotel accommodation was in the main of a high standard. We particularly appreciated the fine hotel in Riobamba (Abraspungo) where we spent 2 nights and the Tambopaxi hostel at the foot of Cotopaxi in the national park.